Ya know, I like Oprah, but I am getting SO tired

of seeing her show devoted to make-overs of RICH PEOPLE'S HOUSES.. Tonight I watched the rerun version of the show today, where Nate re-did Jerry O'Connell's house.. I mean really !! The guy's not exactly bagging groceries at the neighborhood store.. Couldn;t he afford to do his own make-over??

She got into a bit of trouble last year over a similar issue when they did not disclose that the person's apartment that was redone was an ABC emploee..

Shame on Oprah for not using Nate's skills to re-do some old people's homes.. There are pplenty of old people in Chicago, whose homes are probably falling down around them./

In the last few years her show has become little more than a "product-placement" extravaganza..

I like to look at nifty things as much as the next person, but it's getting excessive..and vulgar..

A person with her stature should be using her show to do so much more than what she's been doing lately.. She even said a few years back that she was tired of the "hum-drum" shows and was aiming for "something uplifting"..

Famous people who can afford things on their own...getting free stuff does not impress me one bit...

Why not make over some poor person's home?

Or help out someone who got laid off with 6 month's rent?


Oh, no, that would actually MATTER.

:sarcasm:

My house would look pretty darned good too..

Most people decorate in bits and pieces because that's all they can afford.. they buy the couch, and by the time they save up enough to do something else, they already hate the couch:eyes:...



Hey Oprah!!! I need a new roof and a new A/C.. I'll send you a map for Nate :)

One of the very first posts I responded to on Du was you bitching about an Oprah makeover show. :rofl: Still have all that oak??

That was you, right?

and have given some to my kids:)

Got rid of the hutch (and everything in it)...

Got rid of the huge entertainment center to one son...

I'm workin' on it :)

but I don't think even Oprah has enough cash to make this dump respectable.

She probably tried the "uplifting" shows (saw one about women in Aghanistan that was pretty good) but the ratings demanded more celebrity make-overs. At the end of the day her only responsibility is to get the highest number of viewers for her time slot.

They used to just exchange compliments and hand out little statuettes to each other. Now, they redecorated each others' homes?

...when it comes to the "celebrity mutual admiration society".

I used to watch her show on occasion, when she would have decent topics. But now it's "Lifestyles Of ME And The Famous".

Way too much of the pseudo-spiritual, quasi-intellectual crap, too. Don't get me started on Dr. Phil, either. Oprah should be sent to her room without a hairstylist for a whole week for foisting THAT boob on the nation.

On edit:

I don't remember who said this, they described Prince Charles as, "...an intellectual pillow, bearing the impression of whatever most recently caught his fancy". Pretty much sums up Oprah at this point.

I used to love her show but now I hate it. My girlfriend asked me to turn it on last Friday afternoon to see the Man who did not love his fat wife. He called her bubble butt on camera. Then she sees him trying to pick up another woman on a hidden camera! The wife had to be humiliated on national TV. I was humiliated for her.
Oprah is now equivilant to the Jerry Springer show in my book.

That woman has NO self esteem.. she even admitted that she thought he was "too good" for her..:puke:

she needs to leave that rat, and she would probably feel 100% better about herself, and the weight would come off too :)

But then again, would YOU go on national TV to have your "dirty laundry" dragged out for all to see??

That's pathetic in its own way..

I caught a little of that show while channel surfing (I've largely avoided Oprah since the Arnie love fest), and Oprah was such a bitch to that woman. Hell, the woman wasn't THAT big--she didn't look much bigger than Oprah to me. And the bizarre consensus that the husband was such a prize! In addition to being a complete and utter jerk, he was goofy-looking as hell.

Also, I agree with your point about room makeovers for celebrities--what a turn off.

BTW, do you ever watch "Clean Sweep"? It's my current fave.

The houses they usually tackle are "real", and their clutter is very familiar to me :)

and they have a limit ..$1k makeover is something that a family could actually do..

Buying a 7K stove is something I could NEVER do..

n/t

I can't believe she had that on!

Not too long ago, when she was dry humping Dr. Phil, a woman called in. Seems her husband had admitted to some mild B&D fantasies and had insinuated he wouldn't mind getting spanked. The chick was a little freaked, but not horrified and wanted to know if this was common, etc etc etc. Usual confronted-with-something-unexpected stuff.

Our beloved Oprah proceeded to explain in detail how this kind of perversion was perfect grounds for divorce and flat out ordered her to take her husband to the cleaners.

She's a sick bitch.

Wonder what she would have said if someone had asked about her husband wanting to be fisted?

:evilgrin:

and redid 2 homes that were 6000 sq. feet. They were HUGE mansions with swimming pools, cavernous rooms and the owners were MORE THAN capable of affording the remodel themselves. Why didn't they spend that money on 2 inner city homes that could really use the help? That kind of crap really ticks me off. It's a waste of money that could have been used to help the poor...WHO WOULD APPRECIATE IT! :grr:

was the glowing reviews of their involvement with their church(es). Every one of them. (I think one of them was a minister, too).

Now, I'm NOT anti-religion. One should be able to practice their religion however they see fit as long as it doesn't infringe on another person's religion or lack thereof. But what's been going on lately really bothers me. And when Trading Spaces had these people picked, I crossed the line from thinking I'm being paranoid to past reasonable doubt in the Theocon pervasiveness.

I am sick and tired of Oprah and Trading Spaces and others giving free home makeovers to people rich enough to buy multi-million dollar homes. They can't hire their own freaking interior designer and pay for the crap?

I never watch Oprah anymore. It seems like every time I turn on her show she is interviewing some celebrity that is also on Leno, Letterman, Ellen (whose show I like), Regis, etc. What happened to shows about improving our lives and all that junk? Tell me how to get out of debt and be at peace!

Rich and famous people are always getting free crap, I guess that's why they can stay so rich. :)

Norm with his McMansion tool barn and the $1800-$3000 tools he has . . . like that's realistic.

shows about improving relationships, self-respect and so on.

There are 5 shows a week - plenty of time for a variety.

the homeowners have to do some labor.

Give the person the money and let them pay their rent/mortgage for six months!
I know that would be the most helpful thing that could happen to me!

I used to think Oprah was a very admirable person who never forgot where she came from but she seems to have been sucked up into the glitz like so many people who become rich and famous.

I've seen several episodes where she gives "normal, average" people houses, cars, or whatever else they could use. She does good work.

right here in the States.

It's so sad that because she does some fluff all of that good work is negated for some people.

could tell it pulled at her heart strings too and she that wasn't acting. I try to remember that she is also entertainment, but she also makes helping others entertaining for the whole world. She has opened so many people's eyes to situations out there.

..Get rid of her aging Volvo when she gave those cars away.
No joke, the Indy Star did a write up on one of the "lucky people". she gets to park the new Buick next to hubby's Hummer and Harley-Davidsons.

I'm just saying, y'know? I know I'll never get anyone to put down the Kool-Aid and see what's going on here.
Yes, she DOES "do good work", especially in the arena of promoting her No. 1 product, "Oprah"...

being at least a little self centered, but if you look at the whole picture, she has done quite a bit helping others. She does do good deeds even if she loves Oprah.

I've looked at the whole picture, and everything she does has as it's main thrust putting HER name out "there".

Why does she get away with it and I would not? because she's a "Celebrity", that's why.

Hey, keep watching and keep buying her magazine if it makes you feel like a participant in Something Beautiful...

And no, I don't like Martha, either. Not since I heard her called "America's Premier Lifestyle Expert"...

because I have to work, but I still think she does good deeds. She may be all about making herself look good but in the process people are getting helped out there because of it. She has America reading more, she has American women more concerned about giving. She has helped American women become more vocal and strong. You and I may be deemed as selfish, but life ain't fair. If it was I would have a billion dollars too.

I don't watch often, but there are plenty of serious shows, plenty of uplifting shows, some funny shows and some fun.

I like the home improvement shows, though I too don't see the point in celebrity makeovers.

and maybe that is why she does.

What makes her a moral beacon, fit to browbeat others about the way they live, has always eluded my comprehension. That she unleashed Dr. Phil on an unwitting world makes her part of the problem in my book.

Maybe she makes over rich people's homes because poor people can't afford the taxes on the gift (thinking of the audience members who had to sell their free cars for that reason).

I read an issue of her magazine for the first time a few months ago. The theme of it seems to be "how people who live very well can live better than ever," a theme that doesn't warm the cockles of my heart.

which is to be done over by Nate. I love Oprah but I do have a problem with her because one moment she seems like every woman (one of her theme songs) and the next you know she is a mega star with incredible power and connections-not to mention money-LOL! Her show appeals to the upper middle class and I think that is who she looks to as her demographic, not the middle class or working poor or poor. In addition she wouldn't get any sponsorship for the cars she gave away or the home makeovers she's doing if she didn't have that upper middle class audience. I do agree with those who say that she should be helping the people who need it instead of her celeb friends.

Also, I wanted to add that most of the home makeover shows are looking to re-do cool and interesting properties. And those properties are usually in the hands of people who are well off enough to afford them in the first place. Most of the rest of us own modest homes and it's doubtful that the audience would be there consistantly to watch re-dos of modest or simple homes. One of my families favorite shows is Extreme Home Makeover, where a team of people take a families house and re-do it top to bottom in a week. They pick people who have a compelling story who really need the makeover and can't afford it. It's a very uplifting show and I would think that Oprah could learn a thing or two from that show-especially in light of the fact that she is in a position to do so MUCH more for people in this way if she wanted to. Frankly, I think her entire show should be devoted to good deeds instead of so much of the fluff she does like fashion shows etc. Does she really want that type of show to be her legacy? :shrug:

gotten fewer and fewer in the last decade. I stopped watching awhile back. Her shows are just plain boring these days.

Not only do they do an incredible job on building and decorating the new houses, but they do it for families most in need.

The best was when they made a house for a woman who was recently diagnosed with cancer who was taking care of several girls she adopted who had AIDS. The home team flew in an air purifier from Europe that made sure the air in the entire house was clean and healthy for them. Then at the end of the show, the builder tore up the mortgage papers. I cried.

after I watch the intro. She used to be good, but since she bought a mansion in California, she's become star-struck and most of her shows are celebrity-worship-cluster-fucks.

Also, why does her audience have to scream all the time? If they get a free book, they go ballistic - I have to mute the sound because it makes me crazy.

She needs to get back to her roots - so to speak.

:)

That's the way it has seemed to me as of late. She seems to have let her money/fame go to her head. I think she wants to forget she was, at one time, one of us.

featuring the poor, uneducated?

Think especially in terms of the dirt poor people in China/Africa/wherever who will never see a standard of living that approaches what we think of as trailer trash but might get glimpses of "American Life" via tv.

overall, i mean. she overcame incredible odds! when i think about the woman we all first knew, i can't help but be happy for her success.

i also have not watched her show for many years. we had a unique opportunity as viewers to watch oprah become a woman in her own right. whether i agree or disagree with what she is doing with her fame and fortune, i still think it's fantastic that she was able to become "Oprah!"

i just don't watch the show anymore. and i don't really think she is marketing to me (us)- progressive, politically thoughtful women.

she had on an eleven year old girl who had been repeatedly sexually abused by a neighbor. No attempt was made to shield the child's identity. The entire sordid tale was told in detail, with the kid sitting there, while Oprah primed up and engaged her Oprah Winfrey Tear Pump(patent pending).

Oprah kept pumping the kid for more and more details, asking just what the man did to her. Then she shifted into "Sophia Mode" and began to bellow "A girl chile ain't safe in a world full of mens! A girl chile ain't safe in a world full of mens!"

Even if the kid's mother was willing to let the kid be put through this crap, Oprah, as the producer of her own damn exploitative show, should have taken the high road and shielded that kid's identity. That girl had to go back to the real world, having been on national television, being pumped as to just HOW the man next door raped her. Imagine, going to school the next day with all your classmates now knowing about how you were raped, because Oprah made sure you told all the gory details.

That and Oprah's declaration that one half of the human race is comprised of child rapists finished me. That show is about nothing but Oprah - how wonderful she is, how with it she is, how beneficent she is, how successful she is, how much she can pump out the phony tears. She's a narcissist, and I hope she finally retires and goes away - soon.